Unweaned overweight puppies with rear leg issues
 

Hi,

I have two 5wk old puppies. I lost three in this litter. The two remaining pups are grossly overweight, and their rear legs seem to stick out to the side and they can't get them underneath them. The move them more like the rear flippers on a seal. I'm very worried about them. Is this normal in a small litter. I've never seen it in my previous litters. I have attached a photo of them. They just don't seem right. I'm wondering if their weight has caused their hips to not form correctly, and their rear feet, to face out to the sides. I don't know how well you can see them in the photos, but their feet turn out to the side instead of down towards the ground.

Thanks for your help :)

:eek: Bumping this so you can get some help!

Edit: Try seeing if you can have this moved to the breeder section, I think you might get better responses there.

I had this happen with a litter of 3. Mom had way more milk than the pups needed and they looked like beached whales for a while. In this case, they did start walking later than expected. I started limiting the amount of time I would let Mom nurse them and they slowly slimmed up and developed normally. I kept a girl from that litter and she is completely normal at 15 months old. As soon as they start walking, you'll see the weight come off. You should be ready to start feeding them some softened kibble at this time so you'll be able to control their feeding a bit more. It worried me too when my pups got that way. You don't want to limit their feeding while they're so young and then all of a sudden, you've got a bunch of little fattums :D. It'll probably be ok as long as you can get them moving around more and get them standing. You could try giving them some room to roam and separating them a few feet and have them move around to find each other or come to you, things like that to get them moving more. Hopefully, you'll see some progress soon if you can watch their intake and get them more active. Good luck!! :aimeeyork :animal-pa :animal-pa :animal-pa :animal-pa :)

It sounds like they have Swimmer Puppy syndrome:

Swimmer Puppies: Puppies who have Difficulty Standing

Swimmer Puppy

This is definately what it looks like. What kind of surface are they on? By 5 weeks they should be partially weaned. Give them something under then so they can get traction too. In all the litters I had, I had one that had this. I exercised his rear legs from the time he was born and he did fine as he got older but he was never overweight.

Thanks for that info, this is very interesting, I had never heard of it!!

A friend of mine that the same thing when her girl only had one. The vet made her stop the nursing so moms milk could dry up and the puppies intake of food could be limited. The puppy started walking fine at 7 weeks. The puppy is 4 yrs old now and no leg or walking issue yet.

thanks for the help and advice
 

Thank you all for your help and advice. I feel much better now. I am making sure they get plenty of exercise, so I expect they will be just fine. It was just so strange looking that I was worried they were deformed or something. My husband feels much better about it too.

Good luck with your "fatty" babies, they are gorgeous though.... I am sure they will be fine in a while... very interesting onfo about the "swimmers".. i hope more people get to see this. I never heard of it before. My puppies also are running all over by 3 1/2 to 4 weeks...

Too funny.....I did the same thing when one of my babies couldn't walk and all the other puppies were running around like crazy. So I rushed it to the vet thinking the worse and I just got laughed at once my vet saw the puppy. He sent me on my way with instructions to put it on a diet. Well you no what they say those fat babies are usually your healthiest. Give those adorable babies a big kiss from me.

Oh I can't believe I saw this on here. I just saw a puppy with his legs out like that, and was thinking, that poor puppy will need "wheels" to get around. I have never heard of Swimmer Puppies and this info came in time.
I think I am going to take this little puppy and try working on his legs. A friend on mine, her dog had puppies, and one of them (now 6wks) still has legs like in the picture. I think I will tell her about this and work with her on getting the puppies legs back to normal. She has ceramic tile flooring, so maybe carpet will help the little fella. Thank you so much. What a life saver you all are. Bless Yorkie Talk. :thumbup:
Darlene

I have a litter just 3 that I think have swimmer puppy, I am trying the sock method i found at swimmerpuppy.com did you use that? Just Curious, and if you did, did you leave the sock on all the time? I have never seen this before, I am hoping this works, like your puppies these are overweight and it is their rear legs.

I used like a hair tie, and it does work. Putting the puppy on the carpet, or even in the driveway outside, helped the little fellow to walk better. It helps keep the legs together and they can walk. Hope this works for you. :animal-pa

I have had this same problem a few times before. I was worried sick rushed my baby to the vet. My vet looked at me and laughed his butt off (we are friends) he told me to take my baby home and put it on a diet. So, we laid towels down and I would put my hands on each side of its legs and make it walk. Within a week or so they were up and going. My husband even went out and bought a door mat with the deep grooves to do puppy physical therapy. So, the next time it happened I knew what to do. Good luck I am sure they will be fine as soon as their little legs can support the weight.